WASHINGTON, DC—Financial services and crisis communications expert Michael Robinson has joined Omnicom-owned strategic communications and public affairs firm Chlopak Leonard Schechter & Associates as a new partner. Robinson is a veteran of senior communications roles at Freddie Mac, NASDAQ, FINRA, The Department of Justice, and the US Securities & Exchange Commission.

Robinson comes to CLS from the communications firm Levick, where he most recently served as executive vice president and acting chair of the public affairs practice. In nine years with the firm, he handled public affairs and crisis engagements for clients such as AIG, The World Bank, Lender Processing Services, Borse Dubai and DynCorp.

According to Bob Chlopak, CEO of CLS: “Given Washington’s growing influence over global capital markets, with the ongoing implementation of Dodd-Frank, and the shifting regulatory landscape with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, this is the perfect time to bolster our financial depth.”

Earlier in his career, he served as chief spokesman for the US Securities & Exchange Commission under chairman Harvey Pitt. He also served as director of communications at Freddie Mac, where he led the communications initiatives in the US, Europe and Asia in connection with a $6 billion accounting restatement and successfully managed the subsequent political impact.

Before that, he held positions in government and the private sector, including vice president of corporate communications for the investment bank Friedman Billings Ramsey, senior media relations advisor-global public affairs for Mobil, spokesman at the US Department of Justice, and aide in the White House press office. He began his career at The New York Times.